Doctors Are Urging Schools To Allow Teens More Time To Sleep

The American Medical Association recently adopted a new policy that could change the dynamics of middle and high schools thorughout the country.

Doctors of the AMA are urging schools to start at 8:30am, the earliest.

Scientists found that puberty is related to a shift in the circadian rhythm, which is the 24-hour physiological cycle that dictates our sleep patterns. This shift has been found to cause later sleeping and waking times in adolescents.

Ten percent of U.S. schools currently begin at 7:30am or earlier in order to make room for extra classes, sports, and extracurricular activities. 68 percent of American teens are sleep-deprived, often getting less than the recommended average of 9 hours of sleep a night.

The suggested time change has scientifically been proven to increase "health, academic performance, behavior, and general well-being."

Anything to limit the amount of teenage sass in the morning sounds good to me.